MEAD, Wash. – Mt. Spokane and Mead volleyball broke new ground tonight, one in the elements rather than inside the typical gym.
In a partnership with Pacific Northwest Qualifier (PNQ), the school district played its first outdoor volleyball match. The girls competed in front of a packed home crowd for both teams at football’s shared Union Stadium.
“To be fair, football is king, and so it’s really fun for the volleyball players to get to have some access to something a little bigger under the lights, and they’ve been very excited,” Mead head coach Karrie Delp said.
For the athletes, the unique match was as fun as it was challenging.
“Definitely a big adjustment,” Wildcats setter Emery McMurray said. “I mean, a lot of the girls on our team are sand players, but for the girls who weren’t, it was a little bit hard to adjust to wind and sun. But we just continue to keep pushing in the mindset that we control the controllables. And if there’s wind, we can’t control that. So we’re just going to control what we can control.”
Mt. Spokane won the match 3-2, the first five-set match between the rivals since 2021.
“We weren’t worried about the student section or anything else going on around us, especially the weather being outside,” outside hitter Kate Rayment said. “So, we just stayed calm and composed as a team and leaned on each other.”
“I’m always proud to wear Wildcats on my chest,” Wildcats libero Kela Williams said. “I think it’s just so fun. Our community does so much to support us, so just being able to perform for them and just give back to them is so much fun for me.”
Mt. Spokane next plays University, and Mead travels to Ferris; both matches are tomorrow at 7:00 p.m.
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